– Upcoming MEET ME THERE screenings: August 1 and 2 at Beta Theater in Houston, Wizard World Chicago in Chicago (I’ll be there tabling! Batista is there too I guess!). We just found out we’re screening not only in Mexico but in the UK over the next couple of months, so holy crap, look out for that.

Please click through for the Best and Worst of WWE Raw for July 14, 2014.

Bray lost the Daniel Bryan feud? Didn’t Bray win at the Royal Rumble and then move on to that one boss Shield-Wyatts match and then Cena? I mean Bryan maybe became a bigger star out of it? Big fan of your column, just wanted to ask.

Bryan made the Wyatts look like idiots (it was an awesome segment, but he definitively “won” that), then went on to be WWE Champion. Bray is in the exact same spot he was in January. A guy who says things to big stars and then nothing happens.

Hindsight’s 20/20, but WWE should have made Bray Wyatt attack Bryan before Payback. That way, when Bryan left cause of his broken neck everything, Wyatt would have looked like the hero killing monster he’s supossed to be. Instead, Kane is the one to have done it, a guy who can’t get anything else done “destroyed” Bryan’s message with nothing to show for it but billions of Cena losses.

Bray totally won that feud with Bryan, their final contact was an awesome match at the Royal Rumble where he destroyed him single handedly and totally clean. It s just people forget about it due to Cena making the Wyatts look like fools for an awkwardly long time afterwards.

If we’re fantasy booking, Bray should’ve won at Wrestlemania and moved directly into a program with Bryan. Then at least Bryan’s injury would’ve accomplished something, and we probably wouldn’t have had to see Cena title run number 8364.

I think at this point you have to somewhat deconstruct/humanize (in flawed ways) the Bray character. It’s the “he needs to be a fraud” thing. His motivations should be naked jealousy, pride and ego. I think they’re spent on the current direction.

Also Jericho’s contribution simply being “oh’es weird/let’s get weird” is a complete waste. Everybody’s weird, Bray’s something more than that- or should be.

The biggest problem with Bray is that on the main show, there’s NO ONE he can really change. Everyone’s stuck in their current gimmick/character, and the closest we’ve come to a REAL change was with Bryan and they reverted back in like 3 weeks with HE WAS JUST FAKING IT. Who’s important enough that Bray could do something with and we’d care about? No one. Bray could break Kofi down until he’s wearing a jumpsuit but who’d care about that?

This works better on NXT since everyone there IS malleable and it’s believable that he CAN make someone change or break them.

The “he needs to be a fraud” thing would be interesting if we didn’t already have that right now in his brother.

RJT: What about Bray being able to change Sheamus? It doesn’t really seem like Sheamus is going anywhere anyway, his gimmick is… What exactly? He brogue kicks people? He’s an asshole? But he does seem to have enough of a following that Bray changing him could be a big deal.

Sheamus’ gimmick is he is the Irish Cena. Since Im rewatching 2012, and Im just a few shows after Mania, I see that Sheamus now is Sheamus then. It’s unfortunate how, protected maybe, certain stars are. They are made invincible and unchangeable. It makes their characters stale and predictable.

Once again Bo is just showing us that he’s one of the smartest wrestlers on the roster. As you put it, the fact he can make even Khali, aka the worst big guy in WWE history, entertaining is nothing short of a miracle. Guess that’s what happens when you Bo-Lieve enough. Or you have a hidden third-eye that allows you to read the minds of the fans and internet blog writers.

I’m with you, I thought that Bray’s promo was super on point. The human part of Bray was clearly a big Y2J fan when he was young, and somehow became really disillusioned along the way. I loved it, until the boring chants. Then I only felt white-hot rage for Virginia.

The implication of those two dancing and being all friendly like is a recipe for HLA in the WWE world. I think most of us are just using our experience to put 1 and 1 together. If SummerLay doesn’t become a couple, we’ll finally have progress

It’s impossible to underestimate the intelligence of the average wrestling fan, and I think Vince knows that (see: “here’s how you turn on your computer, so you can use the WWE Network”). So I understand why Paige had to hit us over the head with the “frenemies” stuff.

I kinda want AJ/Paige to be a “Make the other blush with awkward pleasantries” match. This is hilariously awkward, and I’ve gone from “not getting it” to “not getting it, but it’s Paige and AJ complimenting each other in odd ways so it’s kinda cool I guess”.

I mean, part of me wants them to stay “frenemies” forever, but I don’t know. I’m legit torn here.

I enjoyed when AJ parked herself on the desk, and she and Paige awkwardly complimented each other about their hair or whatever. It’s like they hate each other’s guts, but neither wants to admit that the other is getting to her.

The few moments of awkward silence that AJ let pass before she said ‘OK, bye’ were genius.

Michael Cole actually made me LOL with his comment after AJ put down her head set and walked away. “Uh, good talk, guys!” Just the disdain and confusion in his voice was the perfect capper to that interaction between the two.

JBL is a great drunken heel on comment. The problem is he has old man King being useless and company man Cole reciting what he’s told. Keep JBL and replace the other two and you’ve got a show. When Vince finally passes on the control.<<< see what I did there? I don't wish anything bad for the old man but that is what it will take for the product to move on. HHH is going to make a great product when he has control. Prove me wrong Paul.

My theory behind why Dean doesn’t just let Rollins cash-in and DQ him. Because Dean is so angry and bitter about Seth that he refuses even the idea of Seth getting the title match itself. Dean wants Seth to go the whole year and have a voided contract when Money In The Bank 2015. A year where Dean makes him pay for his betrayal every chance he gets. And at the end of it he will have nothing but a briefcase and a piece of useless paper

I’m on board. If Dean does it now, Rollins doesn’t fully receive the mental/emotional fatigue of going through the entire year 1 step away from being champion. For Ambrose, this is a psychological beating, as much as a physical one.

They have done everything else with Briefcase, maybe IT IS time for the one scenario no one expects, namely, that the year runs out, without it being cashed in. It would be something not done before. And I love Ambrose’s run ins to keep Seth from cashing in. Seems that could work for a year, if it happens in different ways. And it would make the threat that Dean made to Seth, to always be there, seem legit.

Hi. First time, long time. If you could find a way to incorporate a reference from The Room into every Best/Worst, I would greatly appreciate that. Footballs, spoons, “Where’s my money, Denny!”, “I definitely have breast cancer.” Anything. Thanks in advance. I’ll hang up and listen.

I know the direct translation is more like “Attention!” than “Excuse me!” but wasn’t “VNIMANIE” Lana’s Russian version of “Excuse me!”? And while we’re on the subject, what happened to “Vnimanie”? Why doesn’t she announce her presence with that anymore? WWE, why are you spending more time killing off nice, subtle character choices than you are writing storylines?

The problem with “the moneymaker”. It was getting over. It was getting a reaction these couple of weeks. The problem is, the very second it starts getting a reaction now (and it has been the same with many things) the announce table ruins all the fun of it because they are desperate to make it a “thing”. 10 more weeks, and the announce table just in passing making innocuous comments, and it would be firmly over. It may still do, but they are pushing that WAAAAAAAAAY too hard.

If you want to look deeper into the Rollins-Ambrose cash in thing, Ambrose wants to frustrate Rollins and drive him mad for as long as he could. He could just prevent him from cashing in for a whole year and then when he finaly gets the chance Ambrose could finally cause a dq. Rollins certainly would be pissed, and I’d love to see it and explained.

If they’re going this hard with Rusev/Lana, they should go one more logical step. Getting buried under the Russian flag is a good start, but really, the Russian flag doesn’t strike fear and terror in the hearts of Mericans, no matter how prominent a role it plays in their entrance.

You know what DOES strike fear and terror? The SOVIET flag. Put Swagger under that iconic hammer and sickle and complete the transition to Cold War-throwback commies. Mix shots of Lenin and Nikita Khrushchev (or, in a pinch, Nikita Koloff and Krusher Khrushchev) in with the inevitable Putin. Make noise about Mother Russia moving back into breakaway republics and start casting a longing eye toward Germany and Poland. Give Rusev a power bomb as a pin finisher, and have an explosion and mushroom cloud on the Titantron flash every time he hits it.

Obviously Cena ends it by Cena-ing all over everything, but if we’re going to go with a fantasy, let’s go all the way: Rusev kills Swagger on a post-Battleground Raw and injures Zeb so bad he’s written out. Injured and a bit lost without his manager, Hulk Hogan enters the scene, Hulks him up, gives him the rights to Real American and becomes his manager in time for a Swagger-Rusev I Quit match at Night of Champions. Swagger wins, Lee Greenwood comes out to sing Proud To Be An American, a bald eagle* flies into the ring and craps in Lana’s hair, and we all live happily ever after … until the main event when Cena wins a 1-on-5 WWE title match against Lesnar, Orton, Rollins, HHH and Odds.

Seth Rollins is awesome at selling, but let’s not give him more credit than he deserves. I would have never thought he was for real injured if that blue-shirted (doctor/trainer, I guess?) guy hadn’t immediately bolted around the ring to come to his aid.

It’s not exactly Flair’s fake heart attack, but that’s actually kind of a dick move on WWE’s part, now that I think about it.

It almost came off as they thought Seth may have been legitimately injured for a second, which is why they rushed the doctor over. In that moment, it was probably more of a “better safe than sorry” precaution.

Bray was fine coming out of the Bryan feud. He won clean one-on-one at RR. (Have to wonder now though if that Sister Abigail to the guard rail accelerated DBD’s neck issues.) Bryan won the feud, but he made Bray look great. Next PPV, Wyatts vs. Shield — amazing, and fans ate it up. And the Wyatts “won” most of that feud, as the WWE kept teasing a Shield breakup.

It’s really only since then that the Wyatts no longer look fearsome. Can’t even lay it all on Cena. They Uso feud hasn’t done them any favors — if for no other reason than how WWE treats the tag-team division in general.

We’d all joke about Bray’s overuse of the Bible Camp Song that Shall Not Be Named, but the crowds never shat on that. And of course fans made their entrances pure gold. Monday was the first time that crowd wasn’t with them. I seriously hope that’s not a trend.

On the other hand, I’m not sure how it gets better. As much as I love Jericho, how are three guys supposed to look tough beating up one guy?

Bray was fine coming out of the Bryan feud. He won clean one-on-one at RR. (Have to wonder now though if that Sister Abigail to the guard rail accelerated DBD’s neck issues.) Bryan won the feud, but he made Bray look great. Next PPV, Wyatts vs. Shield — amazing, and fans ate it up. And the Wyatts “won” most of that feud, as the WWE kept teasing a Shield breakup.

It’s really only since then that the Wyatts no longer look fearsome. Can’t even lay it all on Cena. The Uso feud hasn’t done them any favors — if for no other reason than how WWE treats the tag-team division in general.

We’d all joke about Bray’s overuse of the Bible Camp Song that Shall Not Be Named, but the crowds never shat on that. And of course fans made their entrances pure gold. Monday was the first time that crowd wasn’t with them. I seriously hope that’s not a trend.

On the other hand, I’m not sure how it gets better. As much as I love Jericho, how are three guys supposed to look tough beating up one guy?

The entire joke, assumedly from all three of us, is how hilarious it is that Paige was treating it like a new word she made up. It is the oldest word. Didn’t you read the jokes about “bromance” that immediately followed it?

I’m pretty sure Paige was only overexplaining because she was trolling the announce team so hard. If you go back and listen, she’s talking to them like preschoolers for repeating the same talking points. I think Paige might be even better at putting the announce team in their place than AJ. She made them look like even bigger idiots than usual.

“Turning off your brain is all too often a justification for someone to be lazy, to get away with half-assing something and pandering to the lowest common denominator to profit. It’s the Transformers having pee jokes and robot balls. It’s time travel movies not making any goddamn sense. It’s Rambo never running out of bullets. That kind of thing.” I’ve yet to discover why that’s a bad thing

I think Bray has been boring as shit since after Wrestlemania. Kept saying the same thing, kept losing to Cena anyway.

Nothing he says leads to anything, and now his whole character is defined only by ranting in the ring because of it. Everything I loved about him when he came up bores me now because it is hot air. I thought he’d be making a difference, changing people, recruiting people. Even his monsters lose all the time.

If a politician you like keeps giving the same speech about changing a law, but never ever changes it, it doesn’t matter how good those speeches are, eventually you don’t care.

Wyatt is compelling as hell and doing the most with what he can do in WWE.

Cya in 6 months when you’re tired of Bo and we’ll have this same argument.

Enjoy Bray for what he is. “I am a God” he yelled that at Cena. That’s awesome, even though he knew he was going to lose. He’s a frustrated cult leader with two very violent followers. Maybe he’s going to up the violence because he’s not getting the results he wants. That’s a fun narrative.

Jericho’s “cool dad” status was never so clear to me as when he paraphrased Michael Keaton’s “Let’s get nuts” speech from the first freaking Batman movie. OK, people over thirty might have appreciated the reference, but it’s an odd little gem to pull out.

“Serious question: The Raw 1000 Cena cash-in showed that MITB cash-ins can end in a DQ. Why doesn’t Ambrose let Rollins cash in, wait until the second the bell rings and THEN jump him? If the match is official, it ends as a DQ win for Rollins and he doesn’t get the belt. Plus, no more briefcase.”

EXACTLY!!! Why did it take so long for someone to print this? thank you.

I think this would be one of those cases where it’s OK to turn off your brain and just enjoy wrestling.

If one wants to overthink it, the kayfabe answer was covered somewhere in the comments section earlier: the longer Ambrose gets to torment Rollins and foil his plans, the more fun it is for Ambrose, and the more it drives Rollins crazy.

Real answer: It adds drama to a potential cash-in (“will Ambrose interrupt in time?”), and gives the Ambrose-Rollins feud a little something ‘extra.’

It’s kinda like at Elimination Chamber last year where Punk and Heyman got the stipulation where if Rock was disqualified, he’d lose the title, and wondering why Heyman didn’t just walk into the ring, slap Punk in the face, and get him back the championship.

My take on Paige/AJ is that Paige is smart enought to realize that when everyone was antagonistic towards AJ she became a) ax crazy and b) longest reigning Divas Champ in history. So she decides to find out what happens when she’s overwhelmingly positive and respectful. Which AJ now seems to try and counter playing the same game.

Add to that the NXT-fact that Paige is a gruff and hard as nails but with a heart of gold, so she probably respects AJ (Doesn’t mean she don’t intend to viciously beat her when she gets the chance to prove she’s better.)

Dean Ambrose is awesome and I hope he confronts Reins next week for not helping him out on the beat down.

Bray needs new recruits in the worst way. He’s so stale. Even when he beats Jericho, what has he accomplished? Nothing.

I hope AJ and Paige’s feud turns into an all out war after battleground. I feel the WWE are pissing away a great opportunity to have a compelling feud. Considering Paige’s age, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s just explaining frenemy to the 3 stooges because those guys have got to seem ancient to a 20 year old . These guys reference the hokey pokey for christ sake!

Adam Rose is doing nothing for me. Can we please have him get concussed and bring back Krueger?

I’m sorry, but I can’t enjoy the Lana and Rusev vs. Jack and Zeb angle BECAUSE it’s so stupid, jingoistic, outdated, hypocritical, and revisionist (not does Zeb now like Obama, but we’re supposed to forget what racist, xenophobic dicks he and Jack Are!). I practically ground my teeth through that whole segment.

OFF TOPIC: Ric Flair might be Mr WCW to most but not me. Sting will always be the heart and soul of WCW. No matter how WWE tries to spin the demise of WCW, to me they failed because they never truely gave Sting the ball. Hogan was beat clean by “Look at my hip scar” twice, but Sting was given a crappy victory over Hogan.

WCW relied too much on the “Outsiders” than the guy they developed under the WCW brand (or signed away from ECW). *steps down from soapbox*

Can someone explain to me how Cena is the first WWE champion when Orton was the one that unified the belts?